A Game Of Truths
by Legacy
Summary: A simple game, reveals Ash and Misty true feelings


Disclaimer: Pokemon, and their characters are not my property. (yet)  
  
Game Of Truths  
  
  
"Ash! Misty! Make sure your here before lunch!" Mrs. Ketchum shouted through the backdoor.  
  
"OK Mom!" Ash shouted back, as he and Misty wandered outside the Ketchum backyard.  
  
The three of them came back to Pallet, after Ash won the Orange League Tournament. Tracey, seeing this as his opportunity, was busy working along side of his long time hero Professor Oak. While Misty and Ash, were staying a the Ketchum residence.  
  
"Hurry up Misty!" Ash shouted back, as he saw the red-haired girl lagging behind.  
  
"I going at my own pace Hatboy. Don't rush me!" She exclaimed.   
  
Ash sighed and slowed his pace. Eventually the two came to a clearing. A peaceful meadow, the only sounds were of nature and the two's breathing.  
  
"Man it's peaceful out here." Ash said while taking in a breath.  
  
"Yeah.....So what are we doing here?" Misty asked.  
  
The question seemed to throw Ash off-guard, cause his reply was in stutters. "I..I..I.. thought we could...enjoy the scenery." Ash weakly replied.  
  
Misty wasn't buying it. "BOR-ING" She stated bluntly. "Come on Ash, I'm your guest, your suppose to entertain me."  
  
"Your guest?" Ash had to say with a laugh. "The way you run around my house I thought you owned the place." Misty was prone to retaliate, when Ash raised his finger. "No, No, Misty remember our bet."  
  
"Yeah," Misty replied through her teeth. The night before Misty boasted she could go a whole day without arguing with Ash. It's seems the task was a lot harder than she originally thought. "OK, so what are we going to do?" she repeated again while tying her shoe.  
  
"I don't know. Give me a minute." After a couple minutes of waiting. Ash finally replied "I know! How about a game?"  
  
"A game? Isn't that a little...young." Misty said. "I mean it's been a while since I played hide & seek and all. But there's a reason for that."  
  
"No! Not like that." Ash exclaimed "A game of truths"  
  
"A game of truths" Misty parroted.  
  
"Yeah kinda like 'truth or dare' without the dares." Ash returned.  
  
"That's kinda......weird." Misty stated, giving Ash a perplexed look.  
  
"No it's not. We use to play when I was a little kid. It a great way to get to know someone." Ash smiled after that. An act that was very unsettling to Misty. "But remember you have to be totally honest." The boy firmly stated.  
  
Misty blushed at the idea. "Ash I don't know about this. It seems like it's fun and all but..."  
  
"Come ooon." Ash pried "What are you scared?"  
  
"No." She stated bluntly.  
  
Ash then grew somber. "I get it." He concluded. "You don't trust me." Ash gaze went toward the ground.  
  
Misty could tell there was some hurt there. "No Ash, I trust you.....OK we'll play, but whatever we say, has to stay between us. Agreed."  
  
"Agreed" Ash cheerfully replied.  
  
The two took a seat in the small peaceful field and then the game was commenced. The game gave them a good opportunity to find some very interesting secrets about each other. At first Misty wasn't too thrilled, but as the questions got more and more personal her interest was highly intrigued.  
  
"OK, I got it." Misty said "When was the first time you cried? I mean full waterworks."  
  
Ash pondered for a minute. "All right, but you promise not to laugh?"  
  
Misty did the cross her heart motion. "I promise."  
  
Ash took a deep breath. "OK, you know that old movie called, 'Old Growlithe.' It came out like six or seven years ago."  
  
"Yeah...So." Misty replied bluntly.  
  
"So, that was the first movie I ever saw. And I like totally loved the Growlithe in the movie." Ash paused.  
  
"Go on." Misty pried.  
  
"Well you know when they have to shoot 'Old Growlithe...." Ash started to get teary eyed.  
  
Misty couldn't contain herself "You mean (giggle)...you cried when they shot..." At this point Misty broke into a thunderous laughter.   
  
Ash turned a bright tomato red. "What's so funny, I couldn't sleep that whole night." Ash said dejectedly.  
  
"Awww....Poor Ash." Misty teased, while pinching his cheeks. "I bet you were totally devastated." She added, while continuing her taunt.  
  
"I should have never told you," Ash said softly, while looking away. Misty saw his face, a mixture of sadness and betrayal was painted there.  
  
"Ash I'm sor-" Misty started.  
  
"No, it's OK....I should have expected you to laugh." Ash fell silent again. He turned to look Misty in the eyes. She looked like she was on the brink of tears. He turned away and began to laugh.....to laugh hard.  
  
"What's so funny?" Misty asked. She was totally confused, one minute the boy was heartbroken, the next he is busting a gut laughing.  
  
"I'm sorry, you should have seen your face." Ash stated in between chuckles. "And I thought I looked depressed."  
  
"You mean, you were faking?" Misty asked.   
  
"Uh..huh." Ash nodded, smirking.  
  
Misty was beyond words, she couldn't believe she actually felt sorry for such a...such a....   
  
"JERK!!!!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.  
  
"Hey I am not!!" Ash returned.  
  
"Yes you are!!" Misty roared. "I can't believe you sometimes!"  
  
"Well I can't believe you. You laughed at me, when I was trying tell you something personal. So I decided to get you back!" Ash screamed, while getting to his feet.  
  
"Idiot!" Misty growled, meeting him standing.  
  
"Am not!"  
"Are too!"  
"Am not!"  
"Are too!"  
  
Ash broke off from the argument. Another smile came to his face. "You know you just lost....The bet I mean."  
  
Misty thought for a minute and then sighed. Dishes for the whole week for her. Misty moped back to the group. Ash sat down also, the adrenaline from the argument slowly fading away.   
  
"It's just like you to make up some bet to get out of doing the dishes." Misty started.  
  
"No! That's not the reason at all." Ash replied.  
  
"Yeah right! Like your not lazy" Misty stated while rolling her eyes.  
  
"Misty your totally wrong about me." Ash defended. "I may not jump to every occasion to do chores but I do, do my fair share." Ash clarified. "Besides that's not the reason why I made the bet with you."  
  
"Why then? So you can say, you were right I was wrong!" Misty exclaimed.  
  
"No!"   
  
"Or maybe so you can gloat over my defeat." Misty yelled.  
  
"No, Misty!"  
  
"Why then Ash...you known since we met, that's all we ever do!"   
  
Ash was reaching his boiling point. It was suppose to be a peaceful day, none of this was suppose to happen. "You want to know why Misty?" Ash was ready to burst.  
  
"Yeah Ash, enlighten me." Misty mocked.  
  
"The only reason why I made the stupid bet was because...I DON'T LIKE YELLING AT YOU!!!!" Ash screamed. " I hate it when we argue! And that's all we seemed to do lately!" Ash sighed. "I just wanted a day without fighting. A day without Team Rocket. A day without the constant reminder of bikes. A day where we could be....friends."  
  
Misty was silent. She didn't realize it was that bad, in a way she wanted the samething. A day where she didn't have to wear, the mask of her tempered self. A day where she could let her true self bloom.   
  
She looked at Ash. "Ash, I could say a thousand apologies, but none of them can ever tell you how truly sorry I am."  
  
Ash smiled. "One is enough, Mist," he said softly.  
  
'Mist.' It was the first time he ever called her that. She took a deep breath. "Ash, I'm sorry."  
  
"I'm sorry too." Ash smiled again while send his hands through his hair.  
  
After a few minutes of silence Misty spoke. "Ash, What do you think of me?"   
  
Ash gave her a bewildered look, not really at her but more like to the question. "Well uuuuuuum.....In between the times we argue and your trying to seriously injure me....I guess you can be pretty cool."  
  
Misty thought for a while. "So you don't hate me?"  
  
Ash shook his head. "No, never." Misty smiled. "Do you hate me?" he sheepishly asked.  
  
"No." Misty answered. Now it was Ash's turn to smile. "OK, back to the game."  
  
Then the game was started again. The two found out more and more about each other. Something's, they always want to know and something's they could have lived without knowing.  
  
"OK, Ash It's your turn."  
  
"Oh, I don't have any." Ash groaned.  
  
"Come on Ash. I asked the last three questions."  
  
"OK, OK, give me a minute." Ash was thinking long and hard. Misty swore if she looked hard enough she could actually see the little gears turning in Ash's head.  
  
"I got it!" Ash expressed "What about your first kiss?"  
  
Misty seemed a little uneasy about this topic one. "Ummm..You go first." she suggested.  
  
Ash gave her a perplexed look "Okay...When I was about five years old, I had a this big crush on May Oak."  
  
"May Oak?" Misty interrupted "Gary's sister?" She snickered a little at the thought.  
  
"Yeah so..." Ash didn't know what was so funny.  
  
"You know if you two got together, you've be Gary's..." Misty taunted.  
  
"Shut Up!!!! Do you want to hear this or not?"  
  
After a few minutes Misty settles down and gives Ash, her full attention.  
  
Ash continued. "Like I said, I had this big crush on May. She was like eight at the time and she hardly knew me, so I didn't think she would ever go for me. But then one day when she was walking home, a big Rattata leaped out of the woods and attacked her."  
  
"I was playing near where she was and I heard her scream. So me being Ash "the Heroic" I chased the Rattata away with a stick. She was OK. When I got to her, she had only a couple of scratches. I walked her home and she said "thank you for everything" and gave me a kiss on the cheek."   
  
"I was in heaven for the rest of the day. After that we just became good friends. I didn't mind that though, she was a really cool. The last time we hung out was a little bit before I set out on my Pokemon journey."  
  
"Do you still like her?" Misty asked, with a little too much interest.  
  
"No." Ash replied "Besides, I'm interest in somebody else."  
  
"Who?" Misty asked.   
  
"Nope, not telling." Ash said while crossing his arms.  
  
"Come on, you can tell me? Is it someone I know?" Misty pried.  
  
Ash raised an eye brow. "Yeah, I think so."   
  
"Is it umm...Duplicia." Misty asked.  
  
After that suggestion Ash appeared a little annoyed. "NO!! Jeez , why does everyone think that?"   
  
"Is it ummm...Jessie?" Misty ask, obviously very curious about the subject.  
  
"From Team Rocket? No way. For one thing she is waaaay too old and another thing that Candy cane thing she does with her hair scares me."  
  
Misty giggled "Yeah...ummm...Would I like her?"  
  
"Yeah, I think so...." Ash answered, then he remembered something. "Hey you never told me about your first kiss." Ash resolved  
  
"Umm... I don't want to." Misty whined.  
  
"Come on Misty, I told you." Ash stated.   
  
"No, I DON'T WANT TO." Misty growled, the boy's growing persistence was getting to her.  
  
"That's not fair Misty. We both agreed on the rules. And the rules say we have to tell each other. No Secrets. Remember?" She gave him no response.  
  
"Misty?" She turned her back to him.  
  
He tried to shout over her shoulder. "Misty?!?"   
  
"MISTY!!!!"  
  
"FINE!!! SINCE YOU WANTED TO KNOW SO BADLY. I, MISTY KASUMI WATERFLOWER, HAVE NEVER BEEN KISSED!!!!!" She roared at the top of her lungs, the act surprised Ash so much that he fell over his feet. He got up cross, but lost her anger when he saw the sadness in her eyes.   
  
"It's not fair," she started. "My sister's had dozens of boyfriends at my age. And I haven't even kissed a boy." Tears shower down from Misty's eyes.  
  
"Ash, What's wrong with me?" Misty asked the boy, who didn't know what was the right thing to say. In response to his silence, Misty buried her face in her hands and cried harder. Normally she wouldn't show such weakness in front of Ash, she always wanted to look strong in his eyes. But this was a moment of weakness. A time where her true self escaped.  
  
Ash stood warily by. He didn't know how to comfort his friend. Then a idea came to mind. Ash walked over to the weeping girl. Removed her hands for her face. Not regarding her pleas, he gently placed a small kiss on her cheek.   
  
Misty felt something that was like an angel's touch on the side of her face. She then realized that Ash had just kissed her. She looked at him with unsure eyes, while holding her cheek.   
  
Ash was a little worried, 'Maybe that wasn't the best thing to do.' He thought as she was looking at him.  
  
Suddenly a wave of happiest flowed through Misty's body. She smiled. Ash smiled too, finally glad he did something right. Misty was about to say something when...  
  
"ASH!! MISTY!!!" Mrs. Ketchum called from in the distance. "LUNCH IS READY!!!"  
  
Ash got up to call back "Coming Mom!! We should be back in a little bit!!!"  
  
He turned back to Misty, but he saw her coming at him with blinding speed, tackling him from the behind. The two were playfully wrestling, both trying to pin the other. In the end Ash had pinned Misty to the ground. To honor his victory, he was tickling his victim. In between laughs Misty pleaded with the boy to stop.   
  
Confirming her defeat, Ash took a break so the both of them could catch their breath. In between breaths, the two's eyes met. It seem as though it was the first time, for the both of them. Or maybe it was they saw something different. Something that held hope.  
  
Ash realized he was still pinning the girl, but Misty didn't seem to mind. He blushed and began to move, but was startled by a voice.  
  
"Ash.." Misty said, in a voice that was so soft and delicate, it was hardly above a whisper. "Who was the girl you were interested in?" She asked.   
  
"Do you really want to know?" Ash asked still consumed with the loveliness of her eyes.  
  
Misty only nodded. She seemed so frighten and scared now. Her eyes portrayed such a loneliness that must have haunted her, her whole life. To Ash, it seemed like the wrong word would shatter her.  
  
So instead of answering, Ash brushed his hand through her fine red hair. She closed her eyes as his fingers touched her, as if she never wanted to forget the feeling. Ash then leaned downward and kissed her ever so gently on the lips. She seemed to tremble at his touch, but eventually she eased. The kiss seemed to bring to light secrets they both wanted to hide in their souls. Then Ash pulled away suddenly.  
  
"Daisy" he stated answering her previous question.   
  
"WHAT!!!" She shouted, while throwing him off. Her face was flustered, half from blushing and the other half from anger.  
  
Ash chuckled "Calm down Misty. Your the only Waterflower for me."  
  
Misty still wasn't amused "I can't believe you said that. You know, how I feel about my sisters!!!"  
  
"Yeah I know....I'm sorry." Ash pleaded with sincerity, this time.  
  
"Sometimes sorry doesn't cut it, Ash." She ended while turning away from him and crossing her arms.  
  
Ash lead out a big sigh, then an idea came to him. He grinned while slowly moving behind her.   
  
Misty suddenly felt his hands gently massaging her shoulders. She tried to remain rigid to his advances, but the sensations her body was feeling was too great.   
  
In a last attempt at retaliating, Misty tensed up. She was about to give Ash the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th degree. She turned to face him, already armed with a series of verbal assaults ready to be spoken.  
  
But the enemy had a secret weapon. Before she even spoke, Ash took her in his arms and placed another sensuous kiss on her soft lips. He suddenly felt Misty come limp in his hands. When the kiss died, Ash asked "Am I forgive?"  
  
Misty halfway through the kiss, totally forget why she was mad in the first place. So she just remained silent in his arms.  
  
"Misty?" no response.  
  
Ash grinned. "You know if we started this earlier. My journey would have been a lot less strenuous."  
  
At this Misty finally reacted. She was about to get mad, then realized what Ash just said. "Earlier? How long have you felt this way?" She asked.  
  
The question kinda threw him off-guard. "Ummm....I don't know. For a while I guess." He started. "Getting pulled out of the river, has quite an effect on a guy." Ash joked, for a while then he grew silent.   
  
"Your not like all the other girls I've meet. It's like, when I'm around you, I feel special. Like I can do anything in the world.....I know I can be annoying sometimes....but I can't help it when I'm around you. You bring out the best of me." He held on to her tight.  
  
"I want to be great because of you." Ash finished, that took a lot out of him. In a few, seconds he just poured out some of the deepest secrets in his soul. Nobody knew them, not even Pikachu. Now she knew them all, except one.  
  
"Ash, I love you."  
  
"Huh." Ash really heard, but he replied more out of a shock.  
  
"I said...I love you." Misty repeated, as new tears formed from her eyes. But these tears where not of sadness, but of rejoicing.  
  
"Misty I-"Ash started.  
  
"Don't say anything." She hushed him, as she pressed her lips to his. The kiss, seemed to start as a small sign of affection, now it grew to a declaration of both their hearts.   
  
Thousands of new sensations coursed through them both. They both knew, they found their one. The one that would always be there for them. The one that always will laugh with them, cry with them. The one they always yearned for. They're equal. 'So this is was this what it is like to be in love.' they both thought, as the kiss came to an end.   
  
"ASH!!! MISTY!!! YOUR FOOD IS GETTING COLD!!!!!" they heard Mrs. Ketchum scream from the Ketchum house.  
  
They both laughed. "I guess we better get back or your mom will kill us both." Misty giggled, while staring into Ash's eyes.  
  
"Yeah!" Ash agreed while taking her hand. Hand-and-hand, the two started to make their way back. As they were moving, Misty was hit with a question.  
  
"Ash? Why did you bring me here anyway?" She really didn't want to tempted fate, but she had to know.  
  
Ash smiled at the question. "I wanted to tell you, I love you."  
  
  
The end 


End file.
